POC ZINE PROJECT

Posts tagged punk

Basically, I think y’all are doing awesome work and I am honored to be able to support the project in whatever way I can. - Sarah McCarry, Guillotine creator & POCZP fundraiser

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Much love and many thanks to Sarah McCarry, who is donating all proceeds from the Guillotine #4 special edition presale to the 2013 Race Riot! Tour fund. Woo! xo

Announcement from Sarah:

I cannot even TELL YOU in the LANGUAGE OF WORDS how excited I am to be publishing Mimi Thi Nguyen and Golnar Nikpour’s conversation on punk. No lie, friends, this chapbook is going to melt the fuck right off your face. You can preorder it now; it’ll ship in mid-June. Use the discount code PUNKSNOTDEAD for $2 off your order between now and May 31. All the proceeds from the special edition will benefit the POC Zine Project’s Race Riot! 2013 tour.

This collaboration is beautiful to us on multiple levels: Mimi was instrumental in making the first Race Riot! tour a success last year and will be joining us again this year. Golnar is an inspiration to POCZP and she performed at the first Race Riot! tour event in Brooklyn with her band In School.

MORE INFO

Guillotine is an ongoing series of handbound chapbooks with letterpress-printed covers, and each chapbook is a single essay.

“Punk is a moving target”: Punk is an unwieldy object of study—because of fictions that circulate as truth, absences in archives and the questionable subject of recovery, and the passage of “minor” details into fields of knowledge. A conversation about the politics of methodology, and historiography, of subculture. 32 pp., 4.5 x 6.5”. ***SHIPS IN JUNE 2013, 243 IN STOCK***

MIMI THI NGUYEN is an Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the author of The Gift of Freedom. She has made zines since 1991, including Slander and the compilation zine Race Riot. Nguyen is a former Punk Planet columnist and a Maximum Rocknrollshitworker; she is also a frequent collaborator with Daniela Capistrano for the POC Zine Project.

GOLNAR NIKPOUR served as co-coordinator of Maximum Rocknrollbetween 2004 and 2007. She is also a founding editor of B|ta’arof, a magazine featuring art, literature, historiography, and cultural critique related to Iran and its diaspora. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and lives in New York City.

SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT

If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu

This video, forever. <3 #janellemonae #pleasemakeazine

If Q.U.E.E.N. inspires you to make a zine (so many incredible visual references and symbolism), let us know!

There were heretics, but thousands of us were thrown on the fire. Most of all our memories were burned. The voice was replaced with paper, and a greater silence came to reign. Any stories that were not in their one Book were banished. Memories of magic, of healing, of speaking with the forest, of our origins, memories of the time when we shared everything and nothing was owned, were suppressed.

This is how they destroyed our roots. And this is why, on May Day, we tell stories. Stories of our lives, of our struggles, of the future we want, of a past we invent because we no longer remember it.

The Witch’s Child

i honestly wish that anarchists put more effort into writing weird stuff like myths.  theory gets really boring as the only way that people wanna communicate ideas and i think that storytelling is a really important form of communication which is still present in some ways in what we do but not enough. (via hystericalqueen)

—-

Great comment via POCZP touring member Suzy X <3

POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano would like to add that storytelling - as a conduit for affirming and deconstructing our realities as POC - is a critical component of our past and upcoming Race Riot! tour.

See POCZP member Cristy C. Road on tour with Sister Spit: The Next Generation!

Go support Cristy C. Road (and say hi! - tell her POCZP sent ya! xo) as she continues her queer literary and artistic journey with Sister Spit: The Next Generation!

This year’s tour features Michelle Tea, Ali Liebegott, Dave End, Texta Queen, Daniel Levesque, and of course CCR!

As Cristy aptly put it:

Too many queer boners in one sentence? Its okay, the universe prefers it that way. Come out and listen to us read and perform from our latest projects, laugh a little, rage a little, gaze into your lovers eyes and cry a little……

Tour dates are listed below (CHECK THIS CALENDAR FOR MOST UP TO DATE LISTINGS & VENUES). More info can be found at the RADAR PRODUCTIONS Website.

March 31, 2013  2 PM

San Francisco Public Library

Koret Auditorium

100 Larkin St. San Francisco, CA 94102

April 1, 2013 7:30pm

Rock, Paper, Scissors Collective

2278 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, California 94612

April 2, 2013 7PM

Pasadena City College/Creveling Lounge

1570 East Colorado Boulevard  Pasadena, CA 91106 

April 3, 2013 2PM Panel/ 7PM Show

UC Riverside

900 University Avenue  Riverside, CA 92521

April 6, 2013  8 PM

Richard Hugo House

1634 11th Avenue  Seattle, WA 98122

April 7, 2013 8PM

The Intercultural Firehouse at IFCC

Portland, OR

April 8, 2013 4:30pm

University of Oregon

585 E. 13th Avenue Eugene, OR 97403-1279

April 9, 2013 7pm

The Voice Shop

1296 N Wishon, Fresno, California 93728 

April 10, 2013 7PM

Otis College of Art and Design

9045 Lincoln Boulevard  Los Angeles, CA 90045

April 11, 2013 7:30PM

REDCAT Theater

631 West 2nd Street  Los Angeles, CA 90012

April 12, 2013 7:30PM

MADHAUS Gallery

624 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, California 90802

April 14, 2013 3PM

New Museum

235 Bowery, New York, New York 10002

April 15, 2013 7:30PM

Pride Center

332 Hudson Avenue, Albany, New York 12210

April 16, 2013 7PM

Gladstone Hotel

214 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario

April 18, 2013 7pm

Ann Arbor

April 19, 2013 6PM

A Room of One’s Own Bookstore

315 W. Gorham St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703

April 20, 2013 9:30PM

Part of the CIMMFEST

The Hideout

Chicago, Illinois

April 21, 2013 7PM

Rachel’s Cafe

300 E Third St, Bloomington, Indiana 47402

POCZP&#8217;S MULTIMEDIA PANEL DETAILS
Date: 2/17/13
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Topic: POC Zine Project presents: Beyond ‘Race Riot’: People of Color in Zines from 1990s-Today
Hashtag: #POCZINES &lt;&#8212; Find this on Twitter on 2/17 to get live-tweets from the event &amp; use the tag to share quotes, your observations and to ask us questions!
Venue: The Moth Theatre, 4359 Melrose Ave  Los Angeles, CA 90029
In recent years, punk and riot grrrl have become the subject of much retrospection and analysis (there are easily a score of scholarly and popular monographs, documentaries, and exhibitions completed or in progress). This retrospective turn, with its subsequent institutionalization of some stories about punk and riot grrrl and not others, has largely failed to center race as a crucial factor, or to observe punks of color as a vital but also a discomforting presence.
POC Zine Project interrupts this void.
Join POC Zine Project members Cristy C. Road, Osa Atoe, Mariam Bastani, Suzy X, Tomas Moniz and POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano as they reunite after the 2012 Race Riot! Tour at L.A. Zine Fest. POCZP members will present a multimedia reading and discussion, as well as answer questions about their experience traveling to 14 cities and six universities on the Race Riot! tour, strategies for building community, and more.
There will be time after the panel to purchase merch from POCZP in the Moth Theatre.
POCZP&#8217;S TABLING DETAILS
The tabling portion of the Fest will be held in the Ukrainian Cultural Center from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM PST. 
POC Zine Project&#8217;s table is listed as #64 in the event materials. You can find us near the front entrance, across from the snack table. Yay, proximity to snacks! 
Address: Ukrainian Cultural Center, 4315 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Entrance: The main entrance to the Cultural Center is located on Melrose Ave., across the street from HRLDRY. This entrance, as well as the loading entrance on Heliotrope, are wheelchair accessible.
SOME OF THE #POCZINES YOU&#8217;LL FIND AT THE &#8220;RACE RIOT MALL&#8221;
Our zine partners for this tabling session are SlushPilePress, For The Birds and Maximumrocknroll.

Race Riot #1

So You Want To Start A Feminist Collective

Working On It: People of Color Experience Occupy Wall Street
An Interview With Ashanti Alston

Maximumrocknroll - various back issues with POC features and covers

Workin&#8217; On It! Women of Color Occupy Wall Street &amp; Beyond #2

Our Culture, Our Resistance #1
Our Culture, Our Resistance #2

Workin&#8217; on It: Ways to Tokenize/Alienate a Non-White Person
EVENT DETAILSL.A. Zine Fest is celebrating its second year by bringing a block party to Heliotrope and Melrose on February 17, 2013 from 11 am - 5&#160;pm at The Ukrainian Cultural Center. FREE!  The Cultural Center will be bursting with 100+ exhibitors from across the city, state, and country who are here to share their zines, comics and DIY publications with you! Across the street at gallery/record store HRLDRY is our Zine Library, where you can browse zines from current and past exhibitors. Around the corner, The Moth Theatre will host our workshops and panels. This year&#8217;s workshops and panels include:  + A multimedia reading and discussion featuring POC Zine Project&#8217;s Cristy C. Road, Osa Atoe, Mariam Bastani, Suzy X, Daniela Capristrano &amp; Tomas Moniz &#8212;their first reunion since their 14-city Race Riot Tour 2012! Get a first-hand, informed primer on people of color in zines from the 90s up to now from some experienced zinesters.  +Zineworks Collective&#8217;s speed-dating-style zinester meet-up! In this interactive workshop, get to know possible future collaborators, swap stories and tips, plus leave with a free zine from Zineworks!  + Mend My Dress Press&#8217; workshop offering up some strategies to help you begin the process of anthologizing your zine, touching on everything from choosing content to suggestions for publishing. Get advice from the Press&#8217; founders and authors in the flesh!  + a panel discussion with Allison Wolfe (of Bratmobile/Cool Moms), Alice Bag (punk musician and author of Violence Girl), and Drew Denny (musician/filmmaker), moderated by K. Bradford. Following the last talk, there will be a FREE afterparty hosted by Sean Carnage with live music TBA in the Ukrainian Cultural Center! ALL events, panels, and the Zine Fest itself are free, all-ages, and open to the public!  L.A. Zine Fest at The Ukrainian Cultural Center 4315 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90029 11 am - 5&#160;pm Afterparty to follow Extra bike parking in front of Orange 20 from 12pm - 6pm! Read Q&amp;A&#8217;s and check out the full list of exhibitors at http://lazinefest.com/! 
Click here to confirm you&#8217;re &#8220;going&#8221; or a &#8220;maybe&#8221; on the L.A. Zine Fest event page on Facebook.
COMMUNITY: If you attend this event, PLEASE come by our table and/or to our panel and say hi! We are looking for more folks to involve in upcoming POCZP initiatives and events &lt;3
Give us a heads up that you&#8217;ll be looking for us by sending us a note here or to poczineproject@gmail.com.

POCZP’S MULTIMEDIA PANEL DETAILS

Date: 2/17/13

Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Topic: POC Zine Project presents: Beyond ‘Race Riot’: People of Color in Zines from 1990s-Today

Hashtag: #POCZINES <— Find this on Twitter on 2/17 to get live-tweets from the event & use the tag to share quotes, your observations and to ask us questions!

Venue: The Moth Theatre, 4359 Melrose Ave  Los Angeles, CA 90029

In recent years, punk and riot grrrl have become the subject of much retrospection and analysis (there are easily a score of scholarly and popular monographs, documentaries, and exhibitions completed or in progress). This retrospective turn, with its subsequent institutionalization of some stories about punk and riot grrrl and not others, has largely failed to center race as a crucial factor, or to observe punks of color as a vital but also a discomforting presence.

POC Zine Project interrupts this void.

Join POC Zine Project members Cristy C. Road, Osa Atoe, Mariam Bastani, Suzy X, Tomas Moniz and POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano as they reunite after the 2012 Race Riot! Tour at L.A. Zine Fest. POCZP members will present a multimedia reading and discussion, as well as answer questions about their experience traveling to 14 cities and six universities on the Race Riot! tour, strategies for building community, and more.

There will be time after the panel to purchase merch from POCZP in the Moth Theatre.

POCZP’S TABLING DETAILS

The tabling portion of the Fest will be held in the Ukrainian Cultural Center from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM PST. 

POC Zine Project’s table is listed as #64 in the event materials. You can find us near the front entrance, across from the snack table. Yay, proximity to snacks! 

Address: Ukrainian Cultural Center, 4315 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029

Entrance: The main entrance to the Cultural Center is located on Melrose Ave., across the street from HRLDRY. This entrance, as well as the loading entrance on Heliotrope, are wheelchair accessible.

SOME OF THE #POCZINES YOU’LL FIND AT THE “RACE RIOT MALL”

Our zine partners for this tabling session are SlushPilePress, For The Birds and Maximumrocknroll.
Race Riot #1
So You Want To Start A Feminist Collective
Working On It: People of Color Experience Occupy Wall Street

An Interview With Ashanti Alston
Maximumrocknroll - various back issues with POC features and covers
Workin’ On It! Women of Color Occupy Wall Street & Beyond #2
Our Culture, Our Resistance #1
Our Culture, Our Resistance #2
Workin’ on It: Ways to Tokenize/Alienate a Non-White Person

EVENT DETAILS
L.A. Zine Fest is celebrating its second year by bringing a block party to Heliotrope and Melrose on February 17, 2013 from 11 am - 5 pm at The Ukrainian Cultural Center. FREE! 

The Cultural Center will be bursting with 100+ exhibitors from across the city, state, and country who are here to share their zines, comics and DIY publications with you! Across the street at gallery/record store HRLDRY is our Zine Library, where you can browse zines from current and past exhibitors. Around the corner, The Moth Theatre will host our workshops and panels. This year’s workshops and panels include:

+ A multimedia reading and discussion featuring POC Zine Project’s Cristy C. Road, Osa Atoe, Mariam Bastani, Suzy X, Daniela Capristrano & Tomas Moniz —their first reunion since their 14-city Race Riot Tour 2012! Get a first-hand, informed primer on people of color in zines from the 90s up to now from some experienced zinesters.

+Zineworks Collective’s speed-dating-style zinester meet-up! In this interactive workshop, get to know possible future collaborators, swap stories and tips, plus leave with a free zine from Zineworks!

+ Mend My Dress Press’ workshop offering up some strategies to help you begin the process of anthologizing your zine, touching on everything from choosing content to suggestions for publishing. Get advice from the Press’ founders and authors in the flesh!

+ a panel discussion with Allison Wolfe (of Bratmobile/Cool Moms), Alice Bag (punk musician and author of Violence Girl), and Drew Denny (musician/filmmaker), moderated by K. Bradford.

Following the last talk, there will be a FREE afterparty hosted by Sean Carnage with live music TBA in the Ukrainian Cultural Center! ALL events, panels, and the Zine Fest itself are free, all-ages, and open to the public!

L.A. Zine Fest
at The Ukrainian Cultural Center
4315 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90029
11 am - 5 pm

Afterparty to follow
Extra bike parking in front of Orange 20 from 12pm - 6pm!

Read Q&A’s and check out the full list of exhibitors at http://lazinefest.com/

Click here to confirm you’re “going” or a “maybe” on the L.A. Zine Fest event page on Facebook.

COMMUNITY: If you attend this event, PLEASE come by our table and/or to our panel and say hi! We are looking for more folks to involve in upcoming POCZP initiatives and events <3

Give us a heads up that you’ll be looking for us by sending us a note here or to poczineproject@gmail.com.

chicagozinefest:

Suzy X is a Florida-bred Latina, radical nanny, cartoonist behind Riot Grrrl Problems and Rookie Mag. Sings in feminist revengecore band Shady Hawkins . She is also the creator of “Malcriada”

Suzy X is a 2013 Chicago Zine Fest Invited Guest. Find Suzy X at Chicago Zine Fest’s Exhibitor Reading, March 8 at 826 CHI from 7 - 9 pm. She will also be tabling at CZF’s Zine Exhibition, March 9 from 11 am - 6 pm at Columbia College Chicago.

She can be found on Twitter.

Heeeeeeey <3 Go Suzy X!

Suzy X is just one of several POC Zine Project members who will be tabling at CZF this year! We’re also doing a roundtable discussion entitled “Lessons from the Race Riot.” Details coming soon!

INTERESTED IN JOINING TEAM POC ZINE PROJECT?

TOUR WITH US - If you’re a POC zinester and/or activist who would like to be a guest reader during our 2013 tour, contact poczineproject@gmail.com.

BE A U.S STATE/COUNTRY LEVEL COORDINATOR - We are looking for individuals (can be part of a collective or other org) to lead POCZP initiatives in each U.S. state. Contact poczineproject@gmail.com for details.

Anyone is welcome to participate. We reserve the right to prioritize applications from people of color <3

Stay tuned for updates as we work on partnering with POC-affirming orgs overseas. If you are outside the U.S. and want to be a part of our emerging POCZP Global Ambassadors program, email poczineproject@gmail.com. 

Until we can secure enough volunteer translators, the ability to write and speak English is required.

INTERN/VOLUNTEER - If you’re a student and/or someone looking for new opportunities to give back while receiving a lot in return, learn more about our internships here.

ZINE EVENT [NYC]: 2/8/13 Punk Rock Karaoke Benefit for ABC No Rio Zine Library!

Punk Rock Karaoke is a DIY, fund-raising event that benefits a different community group each time.

This time around, they will be raising money for the ABC No Rio Zine LibraryThe ABC No Rio Zine Library contains over twelve thousand publications.

If you can’t make this event in person, donate what you can here.

EVENT DETAILS

Friday, Feb 8th
8pm-midnight
Sliding Scale: $5 — $20

Beverages will be sold. Along with zines!
Support your local zine library! 

Featuring songs from:
Against Me!, Bikini Kill, Black Flag, Bratmobile, Buzzcocks, Choking Victim, The Clash, Circle Jerks, Crass, Dead Kennedys, Descendents, Devo, Flogging Molly, Fugazi, Gogol Bordello, Gorilla Biscuits, Jawbreaker, Joy Division, Minor Threat, The Misfits, NOFX, Operation Ivy, Pixies, The Pogues, Ramones, Rancid, Screeching Weasel, Sex Pistols, Sleater-Kinney, The Smiths, The Specials, Stiff Little Fingers, Wire, X, X-Ray Spex + More!!!

Like them on Facebook to stay up to date on future events:
www.facebook.com/PunkRockKaraokeNortheast

Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Victoria Law for telling us about this event. Check her out in this clip  below:

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Mimi Thi Nguyen, Golnar Nikpour and more at ‘Punk Anteriors’ event TONIGHT

POC Zine Project tabling at Jan. 31, 2013 event

We know some of you are bummed that this rad event is 1) far away from you and 2) 21+. We hear ya. Sometimes it seems like all the cool shit is in NYC, right? But that’s just not the case. We know from our travels that people are doing amazing things all over the world, including in small towns.

But this amazing thing is actually going down in NYC tonight, so if you can make it, show some love and stop by our table and For The Birds Collective’s! POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano will be there in solidarity with Mimi and the other readers, along with our Chief Fanalyst Julia B. and Race Riot! tour vet Cristy C. Road.

We’ve been thinking about all the people who can’t afford to purchase Women & Performance’s “Punk Anteriors” special double issue (it’s $85) or attend tonight’s event, so we’ve snagged a copy and made it available to read online, zine-style. <3

We’re also going to live-tweet when we can from @poczineproject using the hashtag #PunkAnteriors. Look for our tweets! <3

“Punk Anteriors: Theory, Genealogy, Performance” is issue 22.2-3 of Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory and was co-edited by Beth Stinson and Fiona I.B. Ngô.

The issue emphasizes punk feminist spaces and times by bringing them to the forefront to forge and generate “punk anteriors.” We use the word “anteriors” in the title of this issue to think through the included articles that specifically address punk spaces and remnants—plotting what might come before, or anterior to, the telling of punk’s stories in two senses. First, punk anteriors point to the temporal, interrogating punk’s (always seemingly) resistant genealogy and questioning the source of politics and performances for punk. Second, we mobilize punk anteriors in the material and spatial sense of place, bodies, and archives. That is to say, we re-consider the context for the everyday performances of punk as occurring within atmospheres of imperial design; racial, feminist, and anarchist social movements; and immigration, poverty, and dislocation. 

Along with the hope of re-centering people of color in punk’s narratives, part of the goal with this issue has been to expand the places where we find valuable knowledge and aesthetics, to re-imagine who counts as an intellectual producer in punk’s history, and to work across genres.  Though the process was not always perfect, we have found this track productive and insightful, and hope that this model might inspire others to explore these topics and others in similar and even more brilliant ways.

COMMUNITY: After reading “Punk Anteriors,” let us know what you think! Click here to submit your review of excerpts of the journal or the entire publication.

EVENT DETAILS

Big thanks to tonight’s organizers for creating punkanteriors.tumblr.com/ and making this roundtable discussion as accessible as possible to the general public.

We also want to give an especially BIG thank you to this issue’s co-editors Beth Stinson and Fiona I.B. Ngô <3 Thank you for disrupting problematic facets of academia in your own ways.

Women & Performance’s “Punk Anteriors” special double issue release party

Thursday, January 31, 2013
@ The Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge
on Bleeker St b/n Thompson and Sullivan

6pm doors // 6:30pm start // 21+ // bands first

Aye Nako, Mon Mecs, and a roundtable discussion panel w/ Tavia Nyong’o, Mimi Nguyen, José Muñoz, Golnar Nikpour, M.J. Zilla, and the co-editors.

Also, zine tabling by the POC Zine Project and for the birds collective.

FREE!

For more venue information, please visit:
http://www.lepoissonrouge.com/lpr_events/women-performances-punk-anteriors-double-issue-release-party-jan-31st-2013/

RSVP on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/178101808980490/?fref=ts

BIOS

Aye Nako

http://ayenako.org/

Mon Mecs

See M.J. Zilla below

José Muñoz

Muñoz is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where he writes, researches and teaches Comparative Ethnic Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, and Performance Art. His books include Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (Minnesota, 1999) and Cruising Utopia: the Then and There of Queer Futurity (NYU Press, 2009). Muñoz has published articles on punk, art, queer theory, critical ethnic studies, poetry, and performance art in venues such as Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist TheoryGLQSocial TextTheatre JournalThe South Atlantic QuarterlyAmerican Quarterly, and Criticism.

Mimi Nguyen

Nguyen is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her first book, called The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and Other Refugee Passages, focuses on the promise of “giving” freedom concurrent and contingent with waging war and its afterlife (Duke, 2012). She is also co-editor with Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu of Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America (Duke, 2007), and co-editor with Fiona I.B. Ngo and Mariam Lam of a special issue of positions on Southeast Asians in diaspora (Winter 2012). She publishes also on queer subcultures, the politics of fashion, and punk feminisms. She is the author of Slander and Evolution of a Race Riot zines and has contributed her writing to Punk Planet and Maximum Rocknroll. In 2012, she went on a couple POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tours to discuss and read from zines by people of color.

http://mimithinguyen.com/

Golnar Nikpour

G. S. Nikpour served as co-coordinator of Maximum Rocknroll — the longest running DIY punk fanzine in the world — from 2004-2007. She is also a founding editor ofB|ta’arof, a magazine featuring art, historiography, and cultural critique related to Iran and its diaspora. She was born in Tehran, Iran and lives in NYC where she still writes for MRR, plays drums in a hardcore band called In School, and is a PhD candidate researching Iranian political modernity at Columbia University.

Interview

Tavia Nyong’o

Nyong’o is Associate Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where he writes, researches and teaches critical black studies, queer studies, cultural theory, and cultural history. His first book, The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory (Minnesota, 2009), won the Errol Hill Award for best book in African American theatre and performance studies. Nyong’o has published articles on punk, disco, viral media, the African diaspora, film, and performance art in venues such as Radical History ReviewCriticismTDR: The Journal of Performance StudiesWomen & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory,Women’s Studies QuarterlyThe Nation, and n+1. He is co-editor of the journal Social Text.

http://nyongo.wordpress.com/

M.J. Zilla (aka Mec Jagger)

Former co-producer/songwriter/front woman for The Slack Republic. A visionary extraordinaire she launched her own boutique music label, wynott records (former Rxlngr) in 2007 and has since managed artists such as Muhsinah, Jneiro Jarel & 00Genesis and consulted other acts like J*Davey, Viktor Duplaix & Dante Fried Chicken. While she continues to expand her brand designing YNA, her product line which debuted at the 2012 Afro-Punk festival, M.J. is quietly writing, producing and recording the debut solo release of her new indie-rock outfit, “Mon Mecs” with plans to also release a several rap songs early this year under the moniker “Mec Jagger.”

http://mecjagger.com

POC Zine Project

Meet POCZP’s first Legacy Series intern: Itoro Udofia!

EDIT: Itoro Udofia: First dedicated intern for POCZP's Legacy Series (Spring 2013)

NAME: Itoro Udofia

ROLE: First dedicated intern for the POC Zine Project’s Legacy Series

REGION: West Coast, USA

COMMUNITY: Join us in welcoming Itoro! You’ll be seeing her contributions manifest on this Tumblr and in other digital and physical spaces very soon …. <3

Bio: Itoro is a first generation writer, artist, and educator of Nigerian origin living in the Bay Area. She develops programs for youth of color (Youth Programs Associate at the Museum of the African Diasporawhere they have a space to honor their histories and thrive. You can find her writings on Your World News, People of Color Organize, Rain and Thunder: A Radical Feminist Journal, Womanist Musings, and her own blog Thoughts of my Mind. Her writings focus on the intersections and dynamics of race, class, gender, power, survival/healing and education.

She also teaches an African History course and when she is not doing that, she works closely with a community organization dear to her heart, working to abolish the school to prison pipeline and hearing the youth speak their truth to move to action. She is happy to be a Bay Area resident and feels like here, she has found a bit of peace and a bit of home!

Itoro’s excited to be an intern with the POC Zine Project because it is a collective that uplifts and cares about what people of color have to say and acknowledges what they have always said.

Some texts that furthered her political consciousness and commitment to uplifting the voices of POC and their struggles are The Revolution Starts at Home, This Bridge Called My Back and Steve Biko’s I Write What I Like: Selected Writings. All these zines and texts named what it means to speak out from the margins and hold to ones principle in building a world that includes us all, and calls for a life of love and continued struggle in ALL our spaces, seen and unseen. Moreover, with many people coming out from the margins, she did not feel alone.

Ultimately, Itoro hopes to be a part of a larger community committed to making our written word available, accessible and visible. Other perks to the internship are gaining more knowledge and organizing with radical zinesters. As an intern, she hopes to further her knowledge about zine culture and help get our Voices out. She is excited and ready to begin this journey and is happy to call the POC Zine Project her media home.

COMMUNITY: Learn more about POCZP internship & volunteer opportunities here. We are still accepting applications for the Summer and Fall sessions. 

IN ITORO’S OWN WORDS

Here are some excerpt from her application that are important to share:

Zine culture, specifically the material production of our knowledge is important to me because our voices are often co-opted, misused or completely erased in the literary canon. I have experienced this dangerous and painful trend most profoundly as an educator within the context of radical and progressive education. Save for bell hooks, Sonia nieto, Michele Foster and a few other people of color directly explaining the intricacies of power and privilege as a teacher of color, outlining a liberatory pedagogy through navigating a hostile terrain and offering something invaluable to the field through articulating underlying race, class and gender dynamics, it was difficult to fully relate to radical literature. I found that much of its thought and analysis was filtered through a white liberal/radical context. Even the class analysis was lacking because the white elephant in the room, white supremacy, was not directly dealt with. These power dynamics alone, the dynamics of who gets listened to, who controls the written word, who controls the publishing house, the way information gets told is what fuels my commitment to writing and working with people of color to have complete autonomy over their material.

… The POC Zine project is necessary at this particular time where knowledge and overall experiences are actively ignored.  Centering people of color’s material contributions as a source of  is important, and is a part of honoring a larger history of people who kept going in spite of these hurdles.  

SOME OF ITORO’S WRITING

In a Quiet Place, A Radical Profeminist (Fall 2012)  

In a Quiet Place, The Black Feminist Manifesto (Fall 2012)

In a Quiet Place, Your World News (Fall 2012)  

Missy Anne’s on the lookout for me, Your World News (Summer 2012)  

And When You Leave, Take your Pictures with you, Your World News (Spring 2012) 

Black Power, Leadership and Privilege, Your World News (Winter 2012)

Shedding the Tears, Looking Back, Moving Forward, People of Color Organize (Winter 2012) 

Conversations with a Student Teacher of Color, Womanist Musings (Fall 2010) 

ABOUT THE LEGACY SERIES

Kicking off with FIRE!!, POC Zine Project will make zines by people of color created from the 1700s-1990s available to read and share.

Every Friday (Editor’s note: date pushed to February), you will find a legacy zine by a person of color on poczineproject.tumblr.com. We will share more details in 2013.

WHY WE ARE FOCUSING ON LEGACY ZINES

People of color in the U.S. have produced independent publications (zines) for decades. Many of these zines were political in nature, creating cracks in the lens of white supremacy that shaped (and continues to inform) popular culture and legislation.

These zines were new maps to our liberation, countering the negative propaganda of what people of color looked like, thought and were capable of achieving.

We want the world to know about these legacy zines, so we are going to archive and share them to the best of our ability.

We look forward to partnering with distros, academic spaces, libraries, anti-authoritarian collectives, literary journals, bloggers and more to share the Legacy Series.

“NEW” ZINESTERS: We will still share information about new and upcoming zines by people of color :) Please continue to submit your zines to the archive.

ABOUT THE RACE RIOT! TOUR

POC Zine Project held its first Race Riot! Tour in 2012, producing 20 events in 14 cities, which included speaking engagements at six universities. Click here to view photos from the POC Zine Project: 2012 Race Riot! Tour tour finale at Death By Audio in Brooklyn and access all the tour stop recaps.

We will be taking the Race Riot! Tour through 14 more cities in 2013. Stay tuned!

SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT

If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

You can also send well-concealed cash or a check! Email daniela@dcapmedia.com for details or if you have questions.

Info about the poverty zine series: http://bit.ly/RLVTVt

POC Zine Project featured on Colorlines.com!
Excerpt:

I sat down with Daniela shortly after the conclusion of the POC Zine Project’s 2012 ‘Meet Me at the Race Riot’ tour to find out what role zines can play in increasing people of color’s political power.
“In each of the fourteen cities, we kept hearing similar messages,” she says. “‘This needed to happen,’ and ‘I’ve been looking for something like this.’ What they’re talking about isn’t about the zines, it’s about community. It’s about finding spaces where you don’t feel silenced, where your thoughts and feelings matter.&#8221;

Nia King: Thank you again for doing this piece and your ongoing support.
Colorlines.com: Thank you for recognizing our work! This was a terrific way to share information about our three-year anniversary and upcoming initiatives.
&lt;3,
POC Zine Project

ABOUT THE RACE RIOT! TOUR
POC Zine Project held its first Race Riot! Tour in 2012, producing 20 events in 14 cities, which included speaking engagements at six universities. Click here to view photos from the POC Zine Project: 2012 Race Riot! Tour tour finale at Death By Audio in Brooklyn and access all the tour stop recaps.
STAY INFORMED
We will be taking the Race Riot! Tour through 14 more cities in 2013. Stay tuned!
Facebook.com/POCZineProject
Twitter.com/poczineproject
poczineproject.tumblr.com
SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh
You can also send well-concealed cash or a check! Email daniela@dcapmedia.com for details or if you have questions.
Info about the poverty zine series: http://bit.ly/RLVTVt

POC Zine Project featured on Colorlines.com!

Excerpt:

I sat down with Daniela shortly after the conclusion of the POC Zine Project’s 2012 ‘Meet Me at the Race Riot’ tour to find out what role zines can play in increasing people of color’s political power.

“In each of the fourteen cities, we kept hearing similar messages,” she says. “‘This needed to happen,’ and ‘I’ve been looking for something like this.’ What they’re talking about isn’t about the zines, it’s about community. It’s about finding spaces where you don’t feel silenced, where your thoughts and feelings matter.”

Nia King: Thank you again for doing this piece and your ongoing support.

Colorlines.com: Thank you for recognizing our work! This was a terrific way to share information about our three-year anniversary and upcoming initiatives.

<3,

POC Zine Project

ABOUT THE RACE RIOT! TOUR

POC Zine Project held its first Race Riot! Tour in 2012, producing 20 events in 14 cities, which included speaking engagements at six universities. Click here to view photos from the POC Zine Project: 2012 Race Riot! Tour tour finale at Death By Audio in Brooklyn and access all the tour stop recaps.

STAY INFORMED

We will be taking the Race Riot! Tour through 14 more cities in 2013. Stay tuned!

Facebook.com/POCZineProject

Twitter.com/poczineproject

poczineproject.tumblr.com

SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT

If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

You can also send well-concealed cash or a check! Email daniela@dcapmedia.com for details or if you have questions.

Info about the poverty zine series: http://bit.ly/RLVTVt